Why Choose a Hover Lawn Mower?

Hover mowers work differently as they don’t have wheels. Instead, they create a cushion of air between the mower and the grass (similar to a hovercraft). This means you can mow in any direction you want.

If you have irregularly shaped lawns, being able to mow side to side as well as backwards and forwards makes your weekly lawn care much easier. It makes cutting the grass quick and easy in areas where you might struggle with other lawn mower types.

Secondly, mowing sloped lawns is generally easier when using a hover mower.

Hovering on a cushion of air makes them feel lighter when pushing and pulling them up and down inclines.

And lastly, the best hover mowers are pretty much ready to use straight out of the box.

That said, you can also remove the limitations of a power cord by investing in a petrol hover mower.

However, these can be heavy. Especially when carrying them from your shed to the lawn as they don’t have wheels to help you.

Something else to consider is the current state of your lawn.

If it’s thick with overgrown grass, bumpy and uneven, a hover mower probably isn’t the best choice. You’ll need something with a bit more oomph, or tackle it with a garden strimmer first.

Lastly, hover mowers often lack the features of other types of lawn mower.

If rollers for striping, the ability to collect, mulch or discharge grass clippings and self-propelling features are important to you, choose another type of mower.

Even adjusting the mowing height is done differently. Instead of simply moving a lever you’ll need to get the spanners out, remove the blade, add or remove some spacers before re-attaching the blade.

It’s not a difficult job but it takes minutes instead of seconds.

Things to Consider When Choosing the Best Hover Mower For You

When deciding which is the best hover mower for you and your garden, there are a few things to consider;

Budget

This is usually the first thing that people think about.

Most hover mowers are electric and that makes them fairly cheap. However, petrol versions cost a few hundred pounds.

As always though, try to buy the very best equipment you can afford.

Grass Collection

Hover mowers often don’t have grass collection boxes and the ones that do have them have small ones.

This is because the extra weight from the grass clippings affects the air cushion created by the mower. In turn, the mower will hover lower than it should, affecting the quality of the cut. In some cases, it could even cause scalping.

This means that if you invest in a hover mower;

You’ll need to manually collect the grass clippings after mowing, or

Empty the grass box very regularly

Petrol versions are pretty heavy as they are so they don’t have grass collection boxes. If you have a large area of lawn to cut, that’s a lot of clearing up to do afterwards.

If you don’t want this extra work, consider a different type of mower.

The Size of Your Garden

The size of your garden will tell you whether an electric hover mower will do or if you should go for a petrol model.

Or if you should choose another model completely.

Because electric mowers are limited by their power cords, they’re naturally more suited to smaller lawns.

On the other hand, petrol versions aren’t hampered by power cords and are more suited to larger lawns.

Warranty & Support

Manufacturers have to offer a warranty by law.

However, some offer 2, 3, even 5-year warranties on their products, or at least give you the option to extend their warranties.

2. Flymo Hover Vac 280 Review: The Best Hover Mower For Small Gardens

Key Features

If you have small lawns and with hard to reach areas, the Flymo Hover Vac is worth considering.

What Good About the Flymo Hover Vac 280

Firstly, the price. It’s not what you’d call expensive.

And when you get it home, it’s ready to use straight out of the box. Just plug it in and away you go.

Powered by a 1,300-watt motor, it’s more than powerful enough to keep on top of small areas of turf. It works better than I expected when the grass is on the long side too. Of course, it won’t tackle thick overgrown areas but if you’re faced with a few inches of growth after getting back from holiday, it’ll cope no problem.

It’s fairly light at 8.8kg so carrying from the shed to your lawn shouldn’t be a problem. It feels even lighter when cutting the grass, easily gliding over your lawn and tackling tight areas.

This particular model features a small, 20-litre grass collection box too, which for small lawns, should be enough.

Overall, the quality of the cut is very good, leaving a smooth, even finish (provided your lawn is fairly level).

It’s quiet too.

What Not So Good

Although it cuts well over open edges (along borders and flower beds) it doesn’t even get close on closed edges (along fences and walls).

When mowing along the fence line I was left with a 5cm strip of grass which I had to finish off with the strimmer. Nearly all lawn mowers fail to reach right to the edges along walls and fence lines so this is nothing new, just worth noting.

I also found that despite collecting grass reasonably well, I was left with clippings on the lawn when I’d finished mowing.

And like most other electric mowers, the cable is only 10 meters long. Even in a small garden, I had to reach for the extension cable.

5. Flymo XL500 Review: The Best Hover Mower For Large Gardens

Key Features

If your lawn is on the large size and you want a hover mower that isn’t restricted by a power cord, have a look at the Flymo XL500.

What’s Good About the Flymo XL500

Designed for large gardens and semi-professional use, the big benefit the XL500 has over any other hover mower is the fact that you can go anywhere with it without having a power cord trailing behind you.

It’s powered by a 160cc 4-stroke Honda engine which means two things;

It’s easy to start, and

It’s very reliable

As it’s powered by a petrol engine, it copes much better with both long, bumpy and wet grass. And its 51cm cutting width gets through it quickly.

The Honda engine runs smoothly and it’s also surprisingly quiet when compared to other petrol lawn mowers.

One of the main benefits of hover mowers is the fact that they are handle slopes better than other types. This XL500 copes easily with slopes up to 45 degrees.

And because it’s made for more heavy duty use, it’s the most robust hover mower on the market.

What’s Not So Great

The biggest downside to this mowers is its weight.

Of course, you’d expect petrol lawn mowers to be heavier than electric versions because they have engines bolted to them.

However, all other petrol mowers have wheels which means getting them out of the shed and to the lawn is easy. This Flymo machine doesn’t have wheels so it means you’d have to physically carry its 18.2kg weight to wherever you want to use it.

You can buy a set of transport wheels to help with this but that’s an added cost.

And despite the fact that it’ll cope with fairly steep inclines, pushing and pulling it up and down them is heavy work.

If you’re fit and able, the weight issue shouldn’t bother you so much. However, for some, it’s just too heavy to be useful.

Overall Thoughts

The Flymo XL500 is a monster of a hover mower which cuts well and leaves an excellent finish, even on lawns with long and wet grass.

If you have large areas to mow, it is a good choice – if you can handle the weight.

Flymo XL500: The Best Petrol Hover Mower

– Very Easy to Start
– Best For Large Gardens
– Handles Slopes up to 45 Degrees

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